Here we have the second and more common issue of the Power Records “Ghostly Sounds” LP. Though the titles and back cover descriptions remain the same as the first pressing, the sequence of the tracks has been jumbled around from the original and the cuts themselves have been re-edited to varying degrees. In all cases the narration has been completely stripped out, and while some tracks have found their structure completely altered, there was probably some extra confusion thanks to the label for Side One showing the tracks in a different sequence from how they actually appear (I’ve fixed the errors in the MP3 tags). Oh, and the back cover, label art and catalog number are also different. Personally I liked the I’m-trying-to-be-spooky narrator guy from the first pressing, and I miss a lot of the cheesy drive-in movie sound elements too (like the “Blood Feast” drums that were dropped from “Walking Monster With Chains” and “The Vampire’s Castle”), but I can see preferring either version really.
Okay! Now that you know the score, you can handily complete your collection of records named “Ghostly Sounds” by simply clicking on the (ahem) inaccurate label art here…
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A completely different “Ghostly Sounds” lp than my last post, this one comes from Power Records & was released in at least two versions with the tracks jumbled into somewhat altered sequences (this rip is off the first pressing w/ the less familiar “Raised Fist” Power Records logo).
Since the contents here are loose stories-in-sound, to get yourself in the proper mood please feel free to click the image below for the enlarged back cover descriptions as penned by one “A. Ghost”.
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An all-time fave of many 1970’s kids, this has gotten some extra attention in recent years now that folks have figured out that the Moogtastic Mr. Gershon Kingsley (“Popcorn”, “The In Sound From Way Out”, etc) was involved. It’s justified though, and Side One will probably give you more than ample reason to be interested; Peter Waldron’s simple but evocative narration conjures up a spooky Halloween vibe and the (largely non-library) sound effects merge perfectly with the electronic underscore. I know that the “Goblin Dance” section in particular both enthralled and creeped me out when I was little and even today if it went on for 20 solid minutes I doubt I’d grow bored. Side Two’s single story (“The Ghosts from Outer Space”) might seem a tad goofy to anyone past childhood, but even if you can’t get into the plot the curious use of human voices for most of the sound effects (to simulate working, a guy actually says “work”) nicely expose the avant garde influences that were at play on a lot of children’s records in the late ’60’s & early ’70’s.
Note: This rip is different from the one I circulated last October, and is from a previously unplayed copy of the LP.
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Easily one of the most noteworthy attempts at ripping-kids-off-by-replicating-a-popular-group’s-songs, the Surfsiders 1965 LP seems to have finally gained a kind of celebrity status over the last decade. Essentially a collection of hit Beach Boys singles as performed by atonal studio hacks with maybe a day to crank this damn record out, this baby manages to turn the (you know; heartbreaking, gorgeously sculpted and layered, etc etc — you’ve heard it all before) original B. Wilson arrangements into simplified off-key bar band bleats loaded with dimestore barbershop quartet harmonies, all lovingly topped off by some frighteningly enthusiastic playing. Probably besting even the lamest Beatles ripoff records for both style and substance, this gem can go toe to toe with “Pet Sounds” any day of the week for me. The more you love (or hate) the originals the better this ought to get, and this rip is from the cleanest copy of the LP (of the, *koff koff*, four) that I’ve owned over the years. Fun, fun, fun!
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This 1979 cheapo collection of sound effects came bundled in the same sleeve as HRB’s “Goofy Gold” novelty song LP (pretty great in its own right), and seems to have been assembled from a combination of pretty common sound libraries, other people’s existing sound effects records(!) & a quick day spent in the studio just to pad things out to 61 cuts. Aside from the intro (used to good effect on the Satan’s Pilgrims “Play Ghoulash for You” single) my favorite two tracks are probably the under-a-minute-and-a-half condensed versions of the Dracula & Frankenstein stories from “Famous Monsters Speak”, but by saying this I certainly don’t mean to take away from the charm of good ol’ “Wolf Cry #2” or “Chimes with Echo”. As seen on TV 27 years ago, these 61 Horror Sounds of Terror are now a mere click away!
HRB Music “Horror Sounds of Terror – Terror 61 Sounds of Horror” (192 kbps)
Also available on 8-Track!
Thanks to highly cool reader Steve, I’m posting the final two albums in the 1973 Troll Records spooky LP series. These are 128 rips & they sound a-ok to me (the only difference from what he posted in the comment section here & these files is that I fixed the MP3 tags, added LP art and merged one story which had been split into two), so I invite you all to please have at ’em. Thanks again Steve!
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No, really — this was green lit and released (“I’ve got it! We’ll have Steve Austin attempt to decode an alien message sent originally with the Star of Bethlehem!”). While all the stories are at least a little surreal, maybe the most noteworthy is “Elves’ Revolt”: unionized elves protest their working conditions under Santa Claus (they want a livable wage and better hours but he won’t even talk terms ’til the Christmas rush is over), and as a result they end up falling in with a terrorist planning to melt the polar ice caps (the fact that in 2006 the Six Million Dollar Man voice actor sounds more like George W Bush than Lee Majors probably raises the weirdness factor here). Not my LP rip, but a fairly clean one with only a few slight skips.
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